I used to hear jokes that "GTO" stood for "Gas, Tires, Oil". Would that make one a "Trybrid"?

I think cars have gotten to the point that I actually might consider a hybrid, but it would be something like a Ford Fusion, or possibly a slightly-used Altima. Something that looked like a "normal" car rather than dorky.

My driving habits would never justify one based solely on cost savings, but I do like the idea of having to fill up less often.

I can sort of understand three of those four, as the Aztek is pretty ugly, and the Festiva is just too tiny and fragile feeling. And for me at least, the 500 is just too cute and little, and falls into the same category as a VW Cabriolet.

But, why the Plymouth Acclaim? Did you have bad a personal experience with one? I've ridden in and driven a few Acclaims and Spirits back in the day, and while there's not too much compelling about them, I don't remember anything out and out "bad" about them. They were supposed to be Chrysler's "midsize" car, taking over for the old Dodge 600 and Plymouth Caravelle. But they seemed to be sized as sort of a "tweener" car...a bit bigger than a Tempo or Corsica, but a bit smaller than a Taurus or Lumina.

Personally, I'd rather have an Acclaim than a Corsica or Tempo (one reason I hate the Tempo is that my stepdad had one, and it brings back bad childhood memories). I'd take one of a Lumina as well. Probably a toss-up between an Acclaim and a Taurus of that era, although I'm not exactly clamoring to re-experience either one!

I'll give you the Yugo, though! I can't think of one nice thing to say about that car!

First car that jumps in my mind would be a Renault Alliance or Encore, followed by an AMC Spirit, then a Gremlin, then a Hornet four-door. I'd find them embarrassing (and this from a guy who loves Studebakers! )

I'd hate an Aztek too. Probably next on my list would be a Ford Aspire ('aspire to an Escort, next?') and a Geo Metro.

Current vehicles? As I've mentioned before, I think the Cube is the ugliest vehicle since the dawn of prehistory. I hate the Juke, although I have to say the Buick Encore resembles a chromed-up Juke in some aspects IMHO.

No doubt someone already mentioned Smart. That has got to be at the top of the list.

Not available yet, but the batman/batcar looking new Corvette needs to be added to the list. Who besides young boys, who can't drive or buy it, along with guys with gold chain necklaces would like the styling of this car? And, what about the safety of a Corvette in the event of a head-on collision.

That Corvette will be a smash sales hit, just wait. It might be good that certain people don't work in the auto industry

The Plymouth Acclaim being mentioned earlier strikes me as odd, too. While a bland invisible car, it wasn't particularly bad - just a larger updated K-car. Can't say it is more objectionable than a Corsica or Tempo.

I probably wouldn't drive most of those low-slung, sporty cars, mainly because they're hard for me to get in and out of. Plus, most of them tend to scream "LOOK AT ME", and I'm just not that much of an attention whore. I don't do a whole lot of driving these days, and usually don't go all that fast, so I simply wouldn't get that much use out of one.

As for crash protection, I'm sure the Corvette would score pretty well. Just as long as you don't go up under a truck or something!

I don't imagine the Corvette would be any less safe than anything else like it it's sold against.

I tend to not like driving real showy cars either (obviously!)--I call it the 'car as phallic symbol' thing. That said, I'm blowing myself out of the water on that one as I would enjoy owning a new Corvette at some point after the kids are out of the house, and my wife is even 'in' on that plan! I would buy as low-key a 'Vette as possible though--absolutely not red, yellow, white, silver, or black--I like 'Carlisle Blue' on the C6--and I'd buy the standard wheels and probably pretty much the standard car to keep the price down, although I'd insist on the glass top. And no personalized license plate!

It's definitely a 'car as phallic symbol' too, obviously, but I think its history and heritage and really, being the only American product like it (I link Mustangs to Camaros; also, Vipers compete but IMHO don't have the heritage and history), all that stuff overcomes that negative label.

The Plymouth Acclaim being mentioned earlier strikes me as odd, too. While a bland invisible car, it wasn't particularly bad - just a larger updated K-car. Can't say it is more objectionable than a Corsica or Tempo.

Agree totally. It looks like it would have been roomier inside than either a Corsica or Tempo.

I used to see oldsters driving them quite a bit around here, but can say the same about the majority of Studebaker Larks I remember seeing as a kid.

Interestingly, the old Dodge 600/Plymouth Caravelle, which the Spirit/Acclaim replaced, had the same passenger volume, 97 cubic feet, but a larger trunk, at 17. Somehow, the Spirit/Acclaim seemed smaller to me though. Maybe they were a bit shorter and narrower, but taller? Inside, they seemed to have a bit less shoulder room, but legroom was about the same. Perhaps headroom was greater, and that's what kept the interior volume the same?

I usually don't notice headroom differences in cars. It seems like I either fit okay, or I have to slouch. But once the clearance enough that I can lean forward without brushing my head against the ceiling, I really don't notice it. However, I do notice differences in shoulder and legroom more.

I notice legroom and headroom, but I don't really notice shoulder room. Even though our Malibu is considered a five-seater, for instance, I can think of maybe twice when we've had five people in it, and when we did we put a kid in that middle seat position in back.

With four people riding in it, shoulder room's not much of an issue for us.

I usually tend to notice shoulder room, with regards to how jammed up (or not) I am against the door panel and armrest. However, sometimes a car with less shoulder room will have the seating position further from the door, then a car with more shoulder room. And, there can be such a thing as too much shoulder room. For instance, when the 1991 Caprice came out, it had something like 64-65" of shoulder room, whereas the 1990 was around 61.5". However, the seating position with respect to the center of the car seemed about the same to me. So, rather than making a roomier center seating position, it seemed like all it did was move the armrest out to where is was a bit too far away to be comfortable.

And, I was actually surprised when I read that the '08-12 Malibu only had 53.9" of shoulder room in back, I've been in a few, and I swear it seemed a lot roomier than that.

And for awhile, the Dodge Spirit R/T was about the most bang for the buck you could get. I think they got its 2.5 Turbo 4 up to something like 224 hp, and with a 5-speed stick 0-60 was around 5.9 seconds.

I guess that's still pretty impressive, even today. I'd imagine something like an Altima, Accord, or Camry can get close to that, with their V-6es. But, they're also using a lot more hp and torque to get those results!

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